Witnesses at Burma Hearing Give US Advice on Strengthening Support for Democracy and Human Rights

by Andrea Gittleman, JD on June 23, 2011

The Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on Wednesday entitled “Piercing
Burma’s Veil of Secrecy: The Truth Behind the Sham Election and the Difficult
Road Ahead.” The hearing was notable because it was the first time that Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, addressed the
Committee. Freed from house arrest last November, the Nobel Peace Prize winner spoke to the Subcommittee members through a pre-recorded video. An empty seat
was reserved for Aung San Suu Kyi between hearing witnesses Aung Din, Executive
Director of the US Campaign for Burma, and Dr. Chris Beyrer, Director of the
Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights.

During her video testimony, Aung San Suu Kyi highlighted the
importance of the Human Rights Council resolution on Burma from March of this
year, which noted consistent human rights violations throughout Burma. Suu Kyi
focused in particular on the importance of an independent judiciary, the plight
of political prisoners, and the value of a Commission of Inquiry. Suu Kyi was
unequivocal in her support for a Commission, which she said would exist not as
a tribunal but as a truth-seeking mechanism that would uncover information
about past crimes and stop future abuses.

Aung Din highlighted the need to fully implement all the
tools included in the 2008 JADE Act, including yet unutilized targeted
financial sanctions. Dr. Beyrer discussed the health and human rights
catastrophe in Burma, drawing on his extensive work in the region. Dr. Beyrer
was instrumental in researching PHR’s recent report on human rights violations
in Chin State, western Burma. During his testimony he called attention to the
regime’s violence against ethnic nationalities and reported on the regime’s
systematic use of rape as a weapon of war. The current conflict in Kachin State
is but one example – since June 9 there have been 18 reported rapes of women
and girls, some of whom were also killed.

The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) submitted testimony for the record which highlighted the lack of positive change
following elections in Burma last November. CHRO noted the increased reprisals
and militarization in and around Chin State directly following the elections.
Perhaps most shockingly, CHRO indicated that Zaw Min Oo, a Burmese military
commander who was implicated in serious human rights violations against the
people of Chin State, was one of the military appointees to the Chin State Legislature.
Despite his record of abuses, many of which were captured in PHR’s report, Zaw
Min Oo is now the Minister of Security and Border Affairs in a region he has
terrorized for so long. CHRO’s testimony highlighted the fact that an election
that ushers human rights violators to positions of power is not a shift towards
democracy but a codification of military dominance.

The takeaway from the testimony of the three witnesses is
that the US government can do significantly more in its effort to support
democracy and human rights in Burma. The US administration can and should use
more vigorous leadership in its effort to establish an international Commission
of Inquiry to investigate crimes in Burma. The US should also fully implement
financial and banking sanctions against the regime, and ensure that
humanitarian support is accessible and transparent.

PHR is hopeful that the US will implement the advice given
by the witnesses and will continue to advocate for these necessary policy
changes.